Katie Britt

Katie Britt (née Boyd; born February 2, 1982) is an American politician, attorney and businesswoman. Since 2023, she has been serving as the junior United States senator from Alabama. Britt is a member of the Republican Party.

Britt was president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama from 2018 to 2021. She also was the chief of staff for U.S. Senator Richard Shelby from 2016 to 2018.

Early life and education
Britt was born as Katie Elizabeth Boyd on February 2, 1982, in Enterprise, Alabama. Her parents are Julian and Debra Boyd. She grew up near Fort Novosel in Dale County, Alabama. She worked at her family's businesses when she was young. Her father owned a hardware store and later a boat dealership, and her mother owned a dance studio. Britt was a cheerleader and one of 19 valedictorians at Enterprise High School. After graduating in 2000, she studied political science at the University of Alabama. She graduated from the university in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science. She later studied at the University of Alabama School of Law and graduated in 2013 with a Juris Doctor.

 Early career 
After she graduated from the University of Alabama, Britt became Richard Shelby's deputy press secretary in May 2004. She was later promoted to press secretary. In 2007, she stopped working for Shelby to become a special assistant to University of Alabama president Robert Witt.

After going to law school, Britt first worked at Johnston Barton Proctor & Rose LLP in Birmingham. When that law firm shut down in March 2014, Britt and 17 other former employees joined the Birmingham office of Butler Snow LLP. She started the firm's government affairs branch. In November 2015, Britt left Butler Snow and started working for Shelby again. She worked on his reelection campaign as the deputy campaign manager and communications director.

In 2016, Shelby made Britt his chief of staff. She became one of Shelby's most important advisors and head of his Judicial Nomination Task Force.

In December 2018, Britt became the president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama. She was the first woman to lead the organization. As the leader of the Business Council of Alabama, she focused on developing the economy with tax incentives, and she addressed the state's prisons and participation in the 2020 United States census. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she led an effort to stop businesses from shutting down. In April 2021, she was elected to the Alabama Wildlife Federation's board of directors. Britt left the Business Council of Alabama in June 2021, while the news was wondering if she would become a candidate in the upcoming election for the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Senate
2022 election
On June 8, 2021, Britt announced her candidacy in the Republican primary for the 2022 Senate election. She had never run for public office before. Britt has supported Donald Trump's claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election. On June 10, 2022, Trump endorsed Britt's campaign. Britt won the Republican nomination on June 21, 2022, beating U.S. Representative Mo Brooks in the run-off. She won the general election in November 2022.

After winning the election, Britt became the first woman to be elected as a senator in Alabama. All other female Alabama senators before her were appointed by the governor. She was also the youngest Republican woman elected as a senator and the second-youngest woman ever elected as a senator, with Democrat Blanche Lincoln being the youngest.

Tenure
Britt was sworn-in as Alabama's junior United States senator on January 3, 2023. Before taking office, she was picked to be a member of the Republican Party Advisory Council of the Republican National Committee. Her first vote in the Senate was to oppose a Biden administration nominee to a position in the Department of Defense. She visited the Mexico–United States border twice and co-sponsored eight bills in her first month as a senator.

In February 2023, CoinDesk reported that Britt was one of three members of Alabama's congressional delegation who were given money by FTX, a defunct cryptocurrency exchange. The other two members that FTX gave money to were Robert Aderholt and Gary Palmer. When CoinDesk asked Britt's office about it, they said that the money was donated. As a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, she called for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would require a balanced budget each year. 22 other senators also called for the amendment. Britt said that the Biden administration did not have good plans for the budget.

In March 2023, after Mexican law enforcement took control of a port in Quintana Roo, Mexico which was owned by the Birmingham-based Vulcan Materials Company, Britt and other members of Alabama's congressional delegation negotiated the withdrawal of the forces. She called the takeover unlawful and met with Mexican officials at the Washington, D.C. embassy, condemning the things done at the port. The Mexican forces left the port by the end of the month.

 Response to the 2024 State of the Union Address 

On March 7, 2024, Britt gave the Republican response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address, which he gave earlier that day. She gave criticism about Biden's policies on immigration and the economy. While talking about the country's border with Mexico, she mentioned the story of a woman who was sex trafficked from the age of 12. In a TikTok video, journalist Jonathan M. Katz identified the woman as Karla Jacinto Romero. Biden was not the president at the time, and Romero never entered the United States.

Some reviews of her speech liked it, and some did not. Some people were bewildered and dismayed, including some Republicans. The speech was praised by Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell, but received criticism from Alyssa Farah Griffin and Brendan Boyle. Griffin criticized the decision to give the response from Britt's own kitchen.

Personal life
Britt is married to Wesley Britt, a former NFL player. They met while studying at the University of Alabama, and they got married on March 8, 2008. They live in Montgomery, Alabama and have two children.

References

Category:1982 births
Category:Living people
Category:United States senators from Alabama
Category:Businesspeople from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:Republican Party (United States) politicians
Category:People from Enterprise, Alabama
Category:21st-century American politicians